Do you know any 2×4 guys? Are you a 2×4 guy?
Do you know what a 2×4 guy is? I have no doubt that you do, even if you may not be familiar with the term.
A 2×4 guy is that guy who is… well, fairly self-consumed. He has little awareness of other people’s needs. He is probably loud, brash and bombastic. He can be in your face. He is independent and self-reliant. He’s demanding and commanding. He’s imperative. He’s large and in charge.
Or, maybe not.
He could be withdrawn and disengaged. He may not be loud and bombastic. He may not be demanding and commanding. He is independent though, and he doesn’t have much awareness of other people’s needs.
So what do I mean by 2×4? Quite simple really, a 2×4 guy is a guy who you have to hit with a 2×4 to get his attention.
Figuratively of course.
A 2×4 guy is so wrapped up in himself that if anyone wants to get his attention they need to be very direct, assertive and bold. You need to haul out the figurative 2×4 and wack him in the head. At that point you may get a response like,
“What are you trying to say?”
It takes a significant amount of effort to get the 2×4 guy to notice the needs of the people around him, or to really listen to other people. Bottom line: 2×4 guys don’t listen well.
We can be 2×4 guys with the Lord. We don’t really listen well to him. We’re so consumed and concerned with our own stuff that we pay little attention to how the Lord wants to interact with us. We don’t practice listening to the Lord.
In order for the Lord to get the attention of a 2×4 guy He needs to hit him across the head with something significant, perhaps something painful, or something costly. Then the 2×4 guys cries out to God for help, wondering why things have gone so bad.
Finally God has his attention.
In reality, the Lord has been speaking to the 2×4 guy for a long time, 2×4 has simply not been listening. In His love, the Lord has had to orchestrate something significant to get the attention of 2×4 guy.
The Lord has created, crafted and called us to be in relationship with Him. That means we do life together, every minute of every day, walking together with God as Father and beloved son. Our primary objective every day is to commune with God, know His heart, and partner with Him in what He wants to do on earth, as it is in heaven.
We need to shift from being a 2×4 guy, to being a whisper man.
A whisper man is a man who is tuned into the Lord, who communes with Him throughout the day, who shares with Jesus the journey of life and the epic adventure of the Kingdom of God on earth, who intently listens to His heavenly Father and who makes time to simply be with God in prayer, contemplation and meditation on His word.
A whisper man hears the whisper of God. And, consequently, can hear the hearts of other people and is aware of their needs.
A whisper man has cultivated that secret place, that alone time with the Lord to listen – to hear God. He is not threatened by quiet or silence because he is training himself to hear the subtlety of God, to find Him in the simple, the subtle and the silence.
Elijah experienced this. He was hiding in a cave discouraged and despairing. He needed to hear from God. He needed to connect. And God showed up in a whisper.
Elijah, one of the most powerful and significant men in all of scripture, met with God in the whisper.
May we be men who cultivate alone time with the Lord to listen to Him. May we know His voice such that in the din of life’s daily demands we can hear and respond to the whisper of God. And, therefore, connect with and respond to other people as well.
Whisper man or 2×4 guy – the choice is yours.
1 Kings 19:11-13
“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”
Psalm 46:10
“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’”